DFS Aviation Services opens Remote Tower Center Niedersachsen in Braunschweig

DFS Aviation Services (DAS) has opened its Remote Tower Control Center (RTC Center) in the north of Germany, Lower Saxony, at Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport. With the support of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitalisation, this innovative entity entered the operational implementation phase in November. The air traffic control services for Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport will already be partially taken over from the Remote Tower Center during the current implementation phase. As part of a festive ceremony, the official opening of the Center was celebrated yesterday.

The highlight of the event was the ceremonial ribbon cutting, in which numerous guests were present. Among the guests of honour were Lower Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs Olaf Lies as well as the Lord Mayors of Braunschweig and Wolfsburg, Dr. Thorsten Kornblum and Dennis Weilmann. Their participation underlined the immense importance of this project for the region. The implementation of the project represents an important step in Lower Saxony’s digital strategy ‘Masterplan Digitalisation’.

Lower Saxony's Minister of Transport Olaf Lies praises the project: “The remote monitoring of airports is clearly the future and we in Lower Saxony are at the forefront here at Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport with the RTC Center. The current shortage of skilled workers also poses challenges for air traffic control, especially at small airports. Bundling locations can make things easier here and I am pleased that digitalisation is once again showing its practical benefits. This is well-invested money and I would like to thank everyone involved.”

Dr. Thorsten Kornblum, Mayor of the City of Braunschweig, emphasizes: “Research Airport Braunschweig is an important location for aviation and mobility research in Germany. The technology currently utilised for remote monitoring of various airports was co-developed and implemented at the German Aerospace Center. With the establishment of the RTC Center Niedersachsen in Braunschweig, both Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport associated business and science cluster will be further developed in terms of quality and functionality and strengthened in the long term”

Dennis Weilmann, Mayor of the City of Wolfsburg, adds: "With the RTC Center, we are creating a platform that promotes cooperation between science, research and industry and consolidates our region as a leading innovation location for aviation technology and digitisation. High-precision GPS and positioning technologies are a key technology far beyond flying, for example, they are also used in the Lower Saxony test field of Automated and Connected Driving."

Tim Kruithoff, Mayor of Emden, also attended the ceremony, as Emden Airport will also be integrated into the RTC Center in the coming months, after the full takeover of services for Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport. With the leading aerodrome for the offshore wind industry, an Aerodrome Flight Information Service (AFIS) service will be integrated into an RTC center for the first time.

DFS CEO Arndt Schoenemann said: “With the Remote Tower Control Centre in Braunschweig, our subsidiary DFS Aviation Services is opening the second tower centre of the DFS Group for airports in Germany, thus significantly contributing to modern, digitised air traffic control in Europe and continuing our pioneering role.”

Since 2019, Deutsche Flugsicherung has been operating an RTC center at the international commercial airport in Leipzig for the airports of Saarbrücken and Erfurt. From a remote tower control center, air traffic controllers use high-resolution video and infrared cameras to monitor traffic in the air and on the ground, rather than from the tower.

An elaborate camera system on the Braunschweig control tower permanently provides the air traffic controllers with a 360-degree image of the airport. DAS, in cooperation with Frequentis DFS Aerosense GmbH and ESPA GmbH, is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the RTC Center, which has capacities for a total of six airports. In addition, DAS is working with the Braunschweig-based Institute for Flight Guidance of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR) to advance the further development of the RTC project with regard to multiple-remote applications.

"The project was very ambitious and we are proud of the opening of our RTC Centre in Lower Saxony. We look forward to the further development of our Centre in cooperation with our partners", said Andreas Pötzsch, Managing Director of DAS.

Photo: The ceremonial ribbon cuting for the Remote Tower Control Center with (from the left):
Arndt Schoenemann, Chairman and CEO of DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH
Tim Kruithoff, Mayor of the city Emden
Dennis Weilmann, Mayor of the city Wolfsburg
Dr. Thorsten Kornblum, Mayor of the city Brunswick
Jörn Jakobi, Business Development & Project Manager at DLR
Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony Minister for Economic Affairs, Construction, Transport and Digitalisation
Prof. Dr. Dirk Kügler, Director Institute for Flight Guidance at DLR
Michael Schwarz, Chief Executive Officer of Flughafen Braunschweig Wolfsburg GmbH
Andreas Pötzsch, Managing Director of DFS Aviation Services GmbH